I am a bit bored, so I thought it would be fun to start a thread lamenting about breaking our nice toys we use to maintain our property and what we have done to resolve it.
To bring a quick one over from the Product Sources forum I did to my nice shiny new Bobcat Compact CT2040 with a front loader. As part of the kit I got rubber-grain filled tires (it is a slurry of recycled tires and sealant fluid) and a 3rd function hydraulic on the FEL for using snow plows and grapples, and a medium duty brush hog.
I am clearing a knot of grapevines, thorn-apples, grey dogwood, and sumac all tied together covering about 2 acres of area. For southerners imagine Kudzu and a dense stand of pine with a bunch of thorny hardwoods well hidden to poke you at every opportunity.
The way to do this is to raise up the bucket, drive in a little, and yank everything down and mash it. Then back up, drop the bucket level and shove. Rinse, repeat until you have made a 10ft tall hedgehog to roll off for burning. Sumac is relatively soft and when dead, quite brittle. Usually it is easy to slice off with the bucket if not pull the entire weak stump up. Well, it got revenge and I sliced a 4" diameter stump off at a long angle where it became a 2 foot long sword. When I drove over it forward, it laid down under the bucket, and the front axle. I couldn't see it. Once the tip passed the axle as I pulled forward... it popped up behind the axil. When I backed up, I proceeded to remove all my plastic fan blades and poke a nice hole in the radiator. Off to the repair shop! It needed it's 50-hour maintenance anyhow, but I don't think warranty covers this one.
Two weeks earlier, I did the same thing, though the stump in that case pushed in the dome on the oil filter. This in turn threw a high oil-pressure flag and the engine shut down. It would not start. Had to get the travelling tech to come out as I could not find anything wrong. Turns out I should have checked the fuse box as the fail-safe is to blow a fuse when that alarm goes off, forcing you to service it. Fuse box. Duh.
Good thread idea Liquid and you've got an expensive toy...I'm envious, but not up to the repairs costs if I had one...
My implement of destruction has been a Ford 8N tractor for many years now. I must say that I am very impressed with it's durability, but, I too, have had to clear my fair share of thorns...thorny locust, hedge apple, briar, blackberry, and cat's briar. The first year on the place cost me one rear and two front tires. I weighed the costs of having the rear fixed yearly and opted to have all the tires solid filled with urethane ( I think that's what they use). I have not looked back. The only thing that stops the tractor now is when the thorns get ahold of me and I have to hit the clutch in a hurry to keep from being drug out of the seat.
It's been eight years now and I don't miss airin'em up or fluid all over the shop floor. I'm not sure it's paid for itself yet, but the convenience has been worth it all by itself.
Rainman (Rex) has a good one.... He was looking out the window of the backhoe, sat back upright and the main cylinder on the backhoe broke shattering the window where his head was a split second before..... This was last week.
I ran the brush hog over a stump and BROKE the main shaft in the gearbox. The slip clutch didn't slip.... Almost $1K in parts and I fixed it myself.
Good thread idea Liquid and you've got an expensive toy...I'm envious, but not up to the repairs costs if I had one...
When I was hunting for a new ride, I really wanted a pickup truck. Something in the Ford F150 class. But I discovered they were astronomically expensive! So instead, I opted for a Subaru Outback and a tractor with attachments and still have money left over compared to a truck payment.
The cool part of a tractor is they barely depreciate. It isn't like a car or a truck at all. When I was shopping, used tractors with a front-loader that wasn't a "mechanics dream" were only a few $K less than new. New is 0% interest, so the simple math of inflation vs. depreciation comes out not costing a penny if I were to sell it at value after 5 years of use. If I don't destroy it along the way,
I am afraid of the repair costs. Hoping for a easy fix on the radiator vs. a new one. The plan is to build a "forestry kit" onto the tractor to stop this from happening.
I just wish I bought a tractor 19 years ago. Then I wouldn't have to be dealing with 19 years of untamed growth today.
Somewhere in the dam I'm working on for a pond I'm building myself is a nice cordless sawzall and skillsaw I was using to cut my overflow pipe. Moved it to the side after cutting and apparently forgot about them and started moving more dirt.
Somewhere in the dam I'm working on for a pond I'm building myself is a nice cordless sawzall and skillsaw I was using to cut my overflow pipe. Moved it to the side after cutting and apparently forgot about them and started moving more dirt.
That is so me! There is a smattering of tools out on my property, mostly sockets for dealing with chain saw de-railing. I left good hand pruners in the crook of trees and find them two years later. Now I have three hand pruners. I've nailed safety glasses with the mower a few times, and found my nice camera in a lawn chair after a few days of heavy rain.
Hopefully the new radiator will make your Bobcat twice as efficient at clearing your nasty brush! I am sure your machine has been plotting its revenge for quite some time.
The 1st week I got the Kubota I put a dent in it. I was drinking and playing on it (not a good idea). Was raking down the side a of tree taking some lower branches off. Got hold of a bigger one and had to bend it to the side a few times. Slipped off the bucket at one point and came back and dented the hood. It also swiped me across the face. Almost like it was telling me to get off the tractor and Bit@h slapped me for it. LOL
When i was young and in my early 20's i was an ambulance attendent and i picked up or drug out from under two different tractor accident victums where the tractor turned over and trapped the driver under the tractor when working the farm fields. Tractors can be dangerous even without alcohol.
Last edited by TGW1; 12/04/2008:51 AM.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
The 1st week I got the Kubota I put a dent in it. I was drinking and playing on it (not a good idea). Was raking down the side a of tree taking some lower branches off. Got hold of a bigger one and had to bend it to the side a few times. Slipped off the bucket at one point and came back and dented the hood. It also swiped me across the face. Almost like it was telling me to get off the tractor and Bit@h slapped me for it. LOL
Rusto I stopped drinking over 29 years ago, and while I can still do some stupid shxx, it doesn't happen as often. lol! I wish I would of stopped smoking sooner. About a week after I bought my first brand new truck I had a coal fall of my cigarette and burn a hole in the seat.
Well that sucks bobbss. I never took up smoking. Iv did more than my fair share of stupid things for sure. Heres a pic of me and my sister when I was maybe 4-5 she was like 8 or 9. Dad bought this when I was little just sold it last year. I'm 44 now he used it almost everyday (he dug sewer lines).
Years ago, fresh out of college, I bought a Dodge Neon Sport Coupe. That was a fun car to drive!
First day out: Timing belt broke. It took 3 weeks to get it back and fought tooth and nail on the lemon law. Repair worked out fine... but day after I got it back I drove up north to a friend's wedding at high rates of speed. All was good, car drove like it was on rails.
On the way to the wedding the next day I was behind the groom's mom, who was driving a big hunk of Detroit Steel. She stopped quick, I did not. Well, I did after I hit her at about 2mph. Talk about embarrassing.
I blew up the engine a year later and never did get the dent fixed. Apparently you cannot drive those little pieces of crap like they begged to be driven. High octane fuel was not their friend.
My savings account would look a lot better if it weren't for the stupid stuff I have done with equipment over the years, and that's all I wanna say about that. In my defense, a good bit of it was done by my employees, One of the luckier ones was when I was watching one of them from a little distance, was driving across an area where there was a fibre optic phone line was buried, the markings were not very obvious anymore but we weren't planing on doing any excavating in that area, he was just traveling to where the actual work site was, long story short, it was a little muddy and slick and the tracks started slipping a little on the wet ground, well the first thing he did was jam his bucket and teeth into the ground to push himself out of there with the loader bucket, I ran hollering and screaming bloody murder for him to stop, I just knew he was going to run a tooth thru a big fibre optic phone line, took me a little to get his attention and luckily had not hurt anything except it took several yrs off my life I do believe.
Last edited by gehajake; 12/07/2004:48 PM.
All the really good ideas I've ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.
Ya know, I don't do anywhere as many stupid things since I got older and quit saying "Hold my beer and watch this.".
About 15 years ago I was using my front end loader on a steep slope digging out some muck. When I raised the bucket, the whole tractor started tipping over forward. I jammed the bucket down and slowly dumped the mucky crap and backed out. And then there was the time that I got in the loader bucket and had my Wife raise me skyward to trim some dead limbs. Lost my balance and fell about 10 ft. As Forest Gump said "Shtoopid, just shtoopid.". I have now figured out that anything over your head can hurt or kill you.
It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.
Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
lessens learned. i did simular Dave. Picked up a full bucket of sand with no counter weight on the back of the tractor and did that on a sloap. Had all 3 wheels off the ground. Balancd on one front wheel for a second or two. Idiot!
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
My soon went bucket-up full of cut wood head first down the dam face with me yelling and running down hill as fast as possible to try to stop him! OMG I panicked. Luckily those filled tires and having the brush hog on the back saved him, even though it was a bit wobbly. It is amazing how thick kids can be right after you had a stern discussion about the very things. Hoping my exceedingly spastic response was something he wont forget soon.
This was the same day I ruined the radiator. I have a sinking feeling my radiator was on that cargo ship that lost a bunch of shipping containers from a storm. Still not here :-(.
LiquidSquid, there must be something wrong with those Bobcat radiators! I ran a branch through mine the first year I had it. Was feathering the field edges to improve habitat and was just pushing trees back into the woods that I had dropped into the field. I looked in front of me as I backed up, and sure enough I was leaving a trail of green antifreeze. My CT225 (rears filled with beat juice) has been a great little tractor. Bought it as a leftover after Bobcat got out of the tractor business. Before they got back in to the tractor business. Ha I also buried it in mud trying to cut a road across where my dam now sits. Had to call a neighbor to bring his big John Deere over and pull me out.. I was telling another neighbor later about the mishap, and he said “Ol Bill (who pulled me out) has been telling everyone that story!” It was a good laugh on how the city slicker from St Louis buried his tractor in the mud.. Last time I got stuck though. Been close a few times since. I’m getting better with it.
9 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep. RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (going away), SMB, and HSB (only one seen in 5 yrs) Restocked HSB (2020) Have seen one of these. I think that's about all I should put in my little pond. Otter attack in 2023
You guys make me glad I got all the big screwups worked out of my system 30 years ago on my FIL's equipment - with him there to show me how to fix them.
"Live like you'll die tomorrow, but manage your grass like you'll live forever." -S. M. Stirling
Not long after we bought our property my dad and I were driving back to the camper at the front of the property. He was in front driving the tractor and I was in the back in a Yahama Rhino. Not wanting to drive slow behind him I sped around into some tall grass not knowing there were some huge ruts left over from logging equipment. I hit the ruts and my head hit the ceiling and a generator in the bed flipped on its side and started spilling gas. We got the generator flipped back up and headed to camp. A little while later we fired up the generator so that we could run the AC in the camper. After that we headed down the road to get some lunch. On our way back we get a call from a family member that the rhino was completely engulfed in flames. We assume the spilled gas got on the generator engine and caught fire.